Although marketing and allied social science research has examined the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) on sales performance and customer satisfaction in ...
Summary Brief
Managing Emotions in Buyer-Seller Relationships: Enhancing Sales Performance through Proactive Presales Service Wenkai Zhou, New Mexico State University, USA Michael R. Hyman, New Mexico State University, USA Jiani Jiang, New Mexico State University, USA Although marketing and allied social science research has examined the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) on sales performance and customer satisfaction in buyer-seller exchange relationships, it has attended little to the timing, psychological attributes, and contextual boundaries underlying associations among emotional intelligence, sales performance, and customer satisfaction. Perhaps EI only produces a positive effect when salespeople adapt in accord with emotional information gleaned from customers prior to a purchase decision—the proactive presales period— which is moderated by customers’ previous experience and perceived salesperson emotional-behavioral consistency. If true, then salespeople and customers can mitigate uncertainty in the selling process by using EI to assess each other’s psychological states.
Introduction Sales researchers have focused far more on the effect of proactive postsales services, rather than proactive presales services, on sales outcomes (Challagalla, Venkatesh, and Kohli 2009). Salespeople’s sensitivity to customers’ needs is essential to delivering proactive presale service; hence, emotional intelligence (EI) may differentiate outstanding from average salespeople. As EI is critical to effective selling (Goleman 1995) and service failure recovery (Babakus et al. 2003), our goal is to suggest research propositions related to whether salespeople possessing high EI are better able to deliver proactive presales service.
Background and Literature Review EI is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge about people’s emotions to produce beneficial outcomes. Sales researchers increasingly are interested in facilitating customer interactions by enhancing salespeople’s EI (Kidwell et al. 2011). However, these researchers have ignored how inter-customer differences may influence EI. Accordingly, most previous studies were sales-management-oriented (Goleman 1995). Proactive postsales service relates positively to customer satisfaction when certain contextual conditions are met, as it helps salespeople anticipate and resolve product problems (Challagalla, Venkatesh, and Kohli 2009). Although such research suggests postsales service mechanisms may foster customer satisfaction, little research has addressed the presales service equivalent of proactive postsales service. Proactive presales service refers to sellers initiating presale service by reaching out to customers. Although proactive presales service is vital because it relates directly to revenues and cash flows, the key aspects of proactive presales service are unknown. Previous research has examined the positive effects of EI on sales, but limited work has investigated the dynamics and contextual boundaries of these effects. During the presales period, when salespeople and customers undergo extensive psychological exchanges, customers’ EI may spur salespeople to counter any negative information to which customers were exposed.
Propositions On the seller side of the buyer-seller dyad, few studies have explored the transaction interval during which EI can boost salespeople’s customer orientation (i.e., conditions under which problems may be avoided and relationships may be managed strategically). Proactive presales service can be initiated by activating salespeople's EI, which should enable them to grasp and address customers' needs more effectively through timely recognition of relevant emotions and transformation of emotional information into service that corresponds with customers' expectations (Kidwell et al. 2011). Hence, P1: EI in marketing exchanges facilitates salespeople's ability to enhance proactive presales service. P2: Effective proactive presales service positively influences sales performance and customer satisfaction.
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Although expectation-disconfirmation theory and comparison-level theory imply (1) why dissatisfied switchers differ from stayers, and (2) how salespeople’s postsales behaviors can bolster customer loyalty, these implications apply more to presales than postsales settings for two reasons. First, consumers are more likely to make pre-purchase comparisons for personal-selling-centric products than for consumer nondurables. Second, pre-pur-chase customers compare both alternative brands/models and salespeople’s efforts to address concerns. Customers who continue shopping after a personal selling encounter are dissatisfied with the gap between their expectations and the salesperson's presale service. Customers are more likely to be satisfied and purchase from salespeople who can (1) transform customers’ emotional information about prior sales experience with similar products into proactive presales service, and (2) meet/exceed customers’ expectations and previous comparison baseline. Hence, P3: The positive effect of El in proactive presales service is greater when customers have prior sales experience with similar products. Customers’ EI sensitivity and tolerance for manipulation may induce different responses to manipulative sales pitches. Some customers may feign naiveté and continue conversing with a salesperson to (dis)confirm a belief about being manipulated; other customers may choose to terminate their interaction with that salesperson. Customers with low EI sensitivity may perceive manipulative attempts less negatively. Thus, the relation of salespeople’s EI to their selling performance cannot be assessed fully without considering customer differences. Personal decision-making processes are contingent upon other people's emotional status. For example, fac-ial displays of anger, but not happiness, influence decisions to trust during initial encounters (Cavanaugh, Bettman, and Luce 2015). Over repeated interactions, emotional displays consistent with an established behavioral pattern contribute independently to decision making, strengthening decisions to trust. When facial expression and behavior are incongruent, people use current behavior to inform decision making (Campellone and Kring 2013). Similarly, a customer may perceive a salesperson's emotional-behavioral (in)consistency positively or negatively. Hence, P4: The extent a salesperson's emotional status and behavioral pattern concur, as perceived by customers during the presales period, will moderate the valence of customers' perceptions of that salesperson. P4a: A salesperson's emotional-behavioral consistency, as perceived by customers during the presales period, will boost customers’ positive perception of that salesperson. P4b: A salesperson's emotional-behavioral inconsistency, as perceived by customers during the presales period, will boost customers’ negative perception of that salesperson.
Conclusion and Implications Sales-related EI studies could inform sales training. Previous sales-related EI research has taken a seller’s perspective. In contrast, the propositions presented here take a dual buyer-seller perspective, which should provide richer insights because buyers also process emotional information and form perceptions about salespeople based on emotional-behavioral consistency.
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